The study of Einstein's general relativistic gravitational field equation, which has for many years played a crucial role in the modeling of physical cosmology and astrophysical phenomena, is increasingly a source for interesting and challenging problems in geometric analysis and PDE. In nonlinear hyperbolic PDE theory, the problem of determining if the Kerr black hole is stable has sparked a flurry of activity, leading to outstanding progress in the study of scattering and asymptotic behavior of solutions of wave equations on black hole backgrounds. The spectacular recent results of Christodoulou on trapped surface formation have likewise stimulated important advances in hyperbolic PDE. At the same time, the study of initial data for Einstein's equation has generated a wide variety of challenging problems in Riemannian geometry and elliptic PDE theory. These include issues, such as the Penrose inequality, related to the asymptotically defined mass of an astrophysical systems, as well as questions concerning the construction of non constant mean curvature solutions of the Einstein constraint equations. This semester-long program aims to bring together researchers working in mathematical relativity, differential geometry, and PDE who wish to explore this rapidly growing area of mathematics.

In the past two decades, the theory of optimal transportation has emerged as a fertile field of inquiry, and a diverse tool for exploring applications within and beyond mathematics. This transformation occurred partly because long-standing issues could finally be resolved, but also because unexpected connections emerged which linked these questions to classical problems in geometry, partial differential equations, nonlinear dynamics, natural sciences, design problems and economics. The aim of this program will be to gather experts in optimal transport and areas of potential application to catalyze new investigations, disseminate progress, and invigorate ongoing exploration.

The workshop will be devoted to emerging approaches to fluid mechanical, geophysical and kinetic theoretical flows based on optimal transportation. It will also explore numerical approaches to optimal transportation problems.

The Bay Area Differential Geometry Seminar meets 3 times each year and is a 1-day seminar on recent developments in differential geometry and geometric analysis, broadly interpreted. Typically, it runs from mid-morning until late afternoon, with 3-4 speakers. Lunch will be available and the final talk will be followed by dinner.

This workshop discusses recent developments both in the study of the properties of initial data for Einstein's equations, and in the study of solutions of the Einstein evolution problem. Cosmic censorship, the formation and stability of black holes, the role of mass and quasi-local mass, and the construction of solutions of the Einstein constraint equations are focus problems for the workshop. We highlight recent developments, and examine major areas in which future progress is likely.

The purpose of this workshop is to gather researchers working in various areas of geometry in infinite dimensions in order to facilitate collaborations and sharing of ideas. Topics represented include optimal transport and geometries on densities, metrics on shape spaces, Euler-Arnold equations on diffeomorphism groups, the universal Teichmuller space, geometry of random Riemann surfaces, metrics on spaces of metrics, and related areas. The workshop will be held on the campus of University of California Berkeley (740 Evans Hall) the weekend of December 7-8, 2013. It is funded by an NSF grant.

The purpose of the workshop is to bring Macaulay2 developers together with those who would like to share or develop their skills at writing packages for Macaulay2 and those interested in developing the corresponding mathematical algorithms.

The program aims to further the flourishing interaction between model theory and other parts of mathematics, especially number theory and arithmetic geometry. At present the model theoretical tools in use arise primarily from geometric stability theory and o-minimality. Current areas of lively interaction include motivic integration, valued fields, diophantine geometry, and algebraic dynamics.

Algebraic topology touches almost every branch of modern mathematics. Algebra, geometry, topology, analysis, algebraic geometry, and number theory all influence and in turn are influenced by the methods of algebraic topology. The goals of this 2014 program at MSRI are:

Bring together algebraic topology researchers from all subdisciplines, reconnecting the pieces of the field

Identify the fundamental problems and goals in the field, uncovering the broader themes and connections

Connect young researchers with the field, broadening their perspective and introducing them to the myriad approaches and techniques.

This two-day workshop will consist of short courses given by prominent female mathematicians in the field. These introductory courses will be appropriate for graduate students, post-docs, and researchers in related areas. The workshop will also include a panel discussion featuring successful women at various stages in their mathematical careers.

Algebraic topology is a rich, vibrant field with close connections to many branches of mathematics. This workshop will describe the state of the field, focusing on major programs, open problems, exciting new tools, and cutting edge techniques.

The introductory workshop serves as an overview to the overlying programmatic theme. It aims to familiarize graduate students, postdocs, and non-experts to major and new topics of the current program. Though the audience is expected to have a general mathematical background, knowledge of technical terminology and recent findings is not assumed.

Model theory is a branch of mathematical logic whose structural techniques have proven to be remarkably useful in arithmetic geometry and number theory. We will introduce in this workshop some of the main themes of the programme covering such topics as Additive Combinatorics, Algebraic Dynamics, Berkovich Spaces, and the Pink-Zilber Conjectures.

Tutorials will be given by both model theorists and experts in the relevant field of application. The workshop will also include "state of the art" lectures on the programme topics, indicating recent results as well as directions for future work.

The introductory workshop aims to familiarize graduate students, postdocs, and non-experts to major and new topics of the current program. Though the audience is expected to have a general mathematical background, knowledge of technical terminology and recent findings is not assumed.

The development of model theory has always been influenced by its potential applications.
Recent years have seen a remarkable flowering of that development, with many exciting applications of model theory in number theory and algebraic geometry. The introductory workshop will aim to increase these interactions by exposing the techniques of model theory to the number theorists and algebraic geometers, and the problems of number theory and algebraic geometry to the model theorists. The Connections for Women workshop will focus on presenting current research on the borders of these subjects, with particular emphasis on the contributions of women. In addition, there will be some social occasions to allow young women and men to make connections with established researchers, and a panel discussion addressing the challenges faced by all young researchers, but especially by women, in establishing a career in mathematics.

Since their introduction just two years ago, perfectoid spaces have played a crucial role in a number of striking advances in arithmetic algebraic geometry: the proof of Deligne's weight-monodromy conjecture for complete intersections in toric varieties; the development of p-adic Hodge theory for rigid analytic spaces;  a p-adic analogue of Riemann's classification of abelian varieties over the complex numbers; and the construction of Galois representations for torsion classes in the cohomology of many locally symmetric spaces (for instance arithmetic hyperbolic 3-manifolds). We will start the week with an exposition of the foundations of the theory of perfectoid spaces, with the aim of teaching novices to work with them. Then we will discuss their current and potential applications.

Recent innovations in higher category theory have unlocked the potential to reimagine the basic tools and constructions in algebraic topology. This workshop will explore the interplay between these higher and $\infty$-categorical techniques with classical algebraic topology, playing each off of the other and returning the field to conceptual, geometrical intuition.

The workshop will feature talks in a range of topics where model theory interacts with other parts of mathematics, especially number theory and arithmetic geometry, including: motivic integration, algebraic dynamics, diophantine geometry, and valued fields.

The purpose of the workshop is to introduce graduate students to the recent developments in the area of dispersive partial di erential equations (PDE).

Dispersive equations have received a great deal of attention from mathematicians because of their applications to nonlinear optics, water wave theory and plasma physics. We will outline the basic tools of the theory that were developed with the help of multi-linear Harmonic Analysis techniques. The exposition will be as self-contained as possible.

The MSRI-UP summer program is designed for undergraduate students who have completed two years of university-level mathematics courses and would like to conduct research in the mathematical sciences. Due to funding restrictions, only U.S. citizens and permanent residents are eligible to apply and the program cannot accept foreign students regardless of funding. The academic portion of the 2014 program will be led by Dr. Victor Moll from Tulane University.

Stochastic Partial Differential Equations (SPDEs) serve as fundamental models of physical systems subject to random inputs, interactions or environments. It is a particular challenge to develop tools to construct solutions, prove robustness of approximation schemes, and study properties like ergodicity and fluctuation statistics for a wide variety of SPDEs. 

The purpose of this two week workshop is to educate graduate students on the state-of-the-art methods and results in SPDEs. The three courses which will be run simultaneously will highlight different (though related) aspects of this area including (1) Fluctuation theory of PDEs with random coefficients (2) Ergodic theory of SPDEs and (3) Exact solvability of SPDEs

Geometric and complex analysis is the application of tools from analysis to study questions from geometry and topology. This two week summer course will provide graduate students with the necessary background to begin studies in the area. The first week will consist of introductory courses on geometric analysis, complex analysis, and Riemann surfaces. The second week will consist of more advanced courses on the regularity theory of Einstein manifolds, Kahler-Einstein manifolds, and the analysis of Riemann surfaces.

The branches of number theory most directly related to the arithmetic of automorphic forms have seen much recent progress, with the resolution of many longstanding conjectures. These breakthroughs have largely been achieved by the discovery of new geometric techniques and insights. The goal of this program is to highlight new geometric structures and new questions of a geometric nature which seem most crucial for further development. In particular, the program will emphasize geometric questions arising in the study of Shimura varieties, the p-adic Langlands program, and periods of automorphic forms.

This 2-day workshop will showcase the contributions of female mathematicians to the three main themes of the associated MSRI program: Shimura varieties, p-adic automorphic forms, periods and L-functions. It will bring together women who are working in these areas in all stages of their careers, featuring lectures by both established leaders and emerging researchers. In addition, there will be a poster session open to all participants and an informal panel discussion on career issues.

The fundamental aims of geometric representation theory are to uncover the deeper geometric and categorical structures underlying the familiar objects of representation theory and harmonic analysis, and to apply the resulting insights to the resolution of classical problems. One of the main sources of inspiration for the field is the Langlands philosophy, a vast nonabelian generalization of the Fourier transform of classical harmonic analysis, which serves as a visionary roadmap for the subject and places it at the heart of number theory. A primary goal of the proposed MSRI program is to explore the potential impact of geometric methods and ideas in the Langlands program by bringing together researchers working in the diverse areas impacted by the Langlands philosophy, with a particular emphasis on representation theory over local fields.

Another focus comes from theoretical physics, where new perspectives on the central objects of geometric representation theory arise in the study supersymmetric gauge theory, integrable systems and topological string theory. The impact of these ideas is only beginning to be absorbed and the program will provide a forum for their dissemination and development.

Within the broad range of geometric representation theory the Connections Workshop will focus on three research topics in which we expect particularly striking new developments within the next few years:
* Categorical and geometric structures in representation theory and Lie superalgebras
* Geometric construction of representations via Shimura varieties and related moduli spaces
* Hall algebras and representations

The workshop will bring together researchers from these different topics within geometric representation theory and will thus facilitate a successful start of the semester program. It will give junior researchers from each of these parts of geometric representation theory a broader picture of possible applications and of new developments, and will establish a closer contact between junior and senior researchers.
This workshop is aimed at encouraging and increasing the active participation of women and members of under-represented groups in the MSRI program.

Geometric Representation Theory is a very active field, at the center of recent advances in Number Theory and Theoretical Physics. The principal goal of the Introductory Workshop will be to provide a gateway for graduate students and new post-docs to the rich and exciting, but potentially daunting, world of geometric representation theory. The aim is to explore some of the fundamental tools and ideas needed to work in the subject, helping build a cohort of young researchers versed in the geometric and physical sides of the Langlands philosophy.

The workshop will focus on the role of categorical structures in number theory and harmonic analysis, with an emphasis on the setting of the Langlands program. Celebrated examples of this theme range from Lusztig's character sheaves to Ngo's proof of the Fundamental Lemma. The workshop will be a forum for researchers from a diverse collection of fields to compare problems and strategies for solutions.

L-functions attached to Galois representations coming from algebraic geometry contain subtle arithmetic information (conjectures of Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer, Deligne, Beilinson, Bloch and Kato, Fontaine and Perrin-Riou). Langlands has predicted the existence of a correspondence relating these L-functions to L-functions of automorphic forms which are much better understood. The workshop will focus on recent developments related to Langlands correspondence (construction of Galois representations attached to automorphic forms via the cohomology of Shimura varieties, modularity of Galois representations...) and arithmetic of special values of L-functions.

It will be dedicated to Michael Harris as a tribute to his enormous influence on the themes of the workshop.

The program will focus on the deformation theory of geometric structures on manifolds, and the resulting geometry and dynamics. This subject is formally a subfield of differential geometry and topology, with a heavy infusion of Lie theory. Its richness stems from close relations to dynamical systems, algebraic geometry, representation theory, Lie theory, partial differential equations, number theory, and complex analysis.

Homogeneous dynamics is the study of asymptotic properties of the action of subgroups of Lie groups on their homogeneous spaces. This includes many classical examples of dynamical systems, such as linear Anosov diffeomorphisms of tori and geodesic flows on negatively curved manifolds. This topic is related to many branches of mathematics, in particular, number theory and geometry. Some directions to be explored in this program include: measure rigidity of multidimensional diagonal groups; effectivization, sparse equidistribution and sieving; random walks, stationary measures and stiff actions; ergodic theory of thin groups; measure classification in positive characteristic. It is a companion program to “Dynamics on moduli spaces of geometric structures”.

Differential geometry is a subject with both deep roots and recent advances. Many old problems in the field have recently been solved, such as the Poincaré and geometrization conjectures by Perelman, the quarter pinching conjecture by Brendle-Schoen, and the Willmore Conjecture by Marques-Neves. The solutions of these problems have introduced a wealth of new techniques into the field. This semester-long program will focus on the following main themes:
(1) Einstein metrics and generalizations,
(2) Complex differential geometry,
(3) Spaces with curvature bounded from below,
(4) Geometric flows,
and particularly on the deep connections between these areas.

The purpose of this meeting is to help junior female researchers to become familiar with the focus topics of the main MSRI program, and also for the junior researchers to have an opportunity to get acquainted with more senior women researchers in differential geometry.

The week will be devoted to an introduction to modern techniques in Riemannian geometry. This is intended to help graduate students and younger researchers get a headstart, in order to increase their participation during the main semester programs and research lectures. To increase outreach, the week will focus on Riemannian geometry and should be largely accessible. Some minicourses on topics of recent interest will be included. The workshop will also have semi-expository lectures dealing with aspects of spaces with curvature bounded from below, since such spaces will occur throughout the semester. We expect that many Berkeley mathematicians and students will participate in the introductory workshop.

The workshop will integrate elements from complex differential geometry with Einstein metrics and their generalizations. The topics will include

- Existence of Kähler-Einstein metrics and extremal Kähler metrics. Notions of stability in algebraic geometry such as Chow stability, K-stability, b-stability, and polytope stability. Kähler-Einstein metrics with conical singularities along a divisor.

- Calabi-Yau metrics and collapsed limit spaces. Connections with physics and mirror symmetry.

- Einstein metrics and their moduli spaces, ε-regularity, noncompact examples such as ALE, ALF, and Poincaré-Einstein metrics. Generalizations of the Einstein condition, such as Bach-flat metrics and Ricci solitons.

- Sasaki-Einstein metrics and metrics with special holonomy. New examples and classification problems.

The workshop will concentrate on parabolic methods in both Riemannian and complex geometry. The topics will include

- Ricci flow. Analytic questions about Ricci flow in three dimensions. Possible applications of Ricci flow to 4-manifold topology. Ricci flow in higher dimensions under curvature assumptions.

- Kähler-Ricci Flow. Applications to the Kähler-Einstein problem. Connections to the minimal model program. Study of Kähler-Ricci solitons and limits of Kähler-Ricci flow.

- Mean curvature flow. Singularity analysis. Generic mean curvature flow.

- Other geometric flows such as Calabi flow and pluriclosed flow.

The field of geometric group theory emerged from Gromov’s insight that even mathematical objects such as groups, which are defined completely in algebraic terms, can be profitably viewed as geometric objects and studied with geometric techniques Contemporary geometric group theory has broadened its scope considerably, but retains this basic philosophy of reformulating in geometric terms problems from diverse areas of mathematics and then solving them with a variety of tools. The growing list of areas where this general approach has been successful includes
low-dimensional topology, the theory of manifolds, algebraic topology, complex dynamics, combinatorial group theory, algebra, logic, the study of various classical families of groups, Riemannian geometry and representation theory.

The goals of this MSRI program are to bring together people from the various branches of the field in order to consolidate recent progress, chart new directions, and train the next generation of geometric group theorists.